Facebook Employee Sues Social Network Over Discrimination And Harassment

Chia Hong was a Facebook employee from 2010 till 2013---when she was fired. And today, she is suing the social network for "discrimination and harassment based on her gender and race," filing a lawsuit in California, according to mashable.

Hong is represented by Lawless and Lawless. In her lawsuit, Hong complains that she had always received "satisfactory performance evaluations" in Facebook, yet she had been terminated and "replaced by a less qualified, less experienced male." She claims she had been discriminated against due to her accent, "belittled" as a working mother and ultimately "retaliated against" for complaining about these incidents.

"The discrimination included, but was not limited to plaintiff being belittled at work and asked why she did not just stay home and take care of her children," according to the filing, "being admonished when she exercised her right under company policy to take time."

She had been told to keep organizing parties and drinks for her male colleagues. She wondered at the strange job description that had never been part of her work. It was also not requested of the men with whom she worked. She is also angry that she has been replaced by less qualified, less experienced male."

Initially, Facebook was lambasted for its "sexist culture", as documented by Katherine Losse in her tell-tale book, The Boy Kings, who had joined Facebook in 2005.

Recently, Facebook's reputation for "gender equality" had improved with more generous maternity-leave policies, and the hiring of COO Sheryl Sandberg, who takes up arguments in support of women in tech and business.

However, the lawsuit from someone employed until just two years ago could renew questions about just how much Facebook's internal culture has actually changed. A recent transparency report from the company showed it to still be overwhelmingly white-and-male-dominated, roughly in line with most major tech companies.

"We work extremely hard on issues related to diversity, gender and equality, and we believe we've made progress," a Facebook spokesperson told Mashable in a statement. "In this case, we have substantive disagreements on the facts, and we believe the record shows the employee was treated fairly."

The complaints include the following, according to venturebeat. Filed mainly against her boss, Anil Wilson, the charges were:

• "regularly ignoring or belittling plaintiff' s professional opinions and input at group meetings in which she was the only woman or one of very few;
• asking plaintiff why she did not just stay home and take care of her child instead of having a career;
• admonishing plaintiff for taking one personal day per month to volunteer at her child' s school, which was permitted under company policy;
• ordering plaintiff to organize parties and serve drinks to male colleagues, which was not a part of plaintiff's job description not something that was requested of males with whom she worked;
• and telling plaintiff he had heard she was an 'order taker,' by which he meant that she did not exercise independent discretion in the execution of her job duties."

"Defendants . . . discriminated against plaintiff on the basis of her race/national origin, Taiwanese, and discharged plaintiff because of her race/national origin, Taiwanese . . ."

Hence, the spotlight is on gender discrimination and racism, all over again. Earlier this month, a Google employee came forward to complain against Google employees for sexual harassment.

The case may win or lose in court, but the cheering fact is that it is expected to motivate other women. "When you see big numbers like that and it's a high-profile case, whether or not the person is actually collecting those numbers, it certainly encourages more people to come forward," said Joshua Zuckerberg, an attorney with Pryor Cashman, who has represented employers and employees in workplace disputes.

He added that "It resonates with them and emboldens them to pursue and vindicate their own rights."